Stay
by Hisa-Ai
Summary: Even all these years later, Arthur still expected him to just pop up one day, cheeky grin in place as he called him a clotpole or a cabbage head for whatever reason.


**Written for Day 12—****Week 2, Day 5—of the BBC Merlin Fest. The prompt says this is supposed to be a team specific AU, and I'm Team Merlin, so that's who it's supposed to be for, and, I swear, this was ****_totally _****written _for_ Merlin, but I sort of wrote it from Arthur's perspective. I do better when I'm writing from his POV for some reason, and just... That's just how this came out. So. I apologize if I'm sort of bending the rules a bit.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Merlin_.

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_Stay_

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There wasn't a night that went by that Arthur didn't dream of Merlin, that he wasn't haunted by the events that had taken place so many years ago that resulted in the lonely present Arthur had to live. There wasn't a day that went by that Arthur didn't miss him, think about him. Even all these years later, Arthur still expected him to just pop up one day, cheeky grin in place as he called him a clotpole or a cabbage head for whatever reason.

And why not? Arthur had been king for damn near five years now. He had lifted the ban on magic, changed numerous laws and traditions—all for Merlin. In the hope that he would hear of it, that he would come back; in the hope that he would forgive Arthur for what his father had done—He had banished him from the kingdom when he found out about Merlin's magic. It should have been death, his father said to him after the sentence was delivered, but he _had_ saved Arthur's life, and both Gaius and Arthur vouched for him, and that... Oh _that_ granted him just a little bit of leniency.

Arthur did it all in the hope, really, that he still…

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Round table meetings were, while routine now, still rather… unpredictable at times. The most unusual and odd things always seemed to crop up or pop in when the Round Table was in session. Why Arthur had thought, for even a _second,_ that this meeting would prove to be any different was beyond him.

Indeed, just as Sir Leon was in the middle of going over which parties were where and what trouble they might face in the coming weeks, the doors slammed open, and two guards dragging a slumped over hooded figure between them came in.

Arthur held up a hand to silence Leon, gave the guards a measured, wondering look for interrupting the meeting. They shifted, made the person they held between them kneel until they groaned in discomfort.

"My Lord. We apologize for the interruption, but we thought you would like to know about this as soon as it happened. This man was found trying to break into your royal chambers. Claims to be your manservant, but you—"

At the word 'manservant', Arthur was on his feet in an instant, almost ran over to them and tilted the hooded man's face up to look at him, letting the hood fall off him completely. There, cheeky and grinning, was Merlin, rolling his eyes at the guards just like Arthur always pictured he would.

"Tried to tell them you wouldn't like this, but your guards seem to gave gotten duller in my absence. Honestly, I got all the way to your room before anyone noticed, and even then I was only caught because—"

Arthur yanked Merlin to his feet then, snatched him out of the guards' hold and held him tightly, threatening to never let go again as he choked on a sob. Merlin was _back._ He was actually _back!_ All those years spent dreaming about it and now it had _finally_ happened! There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things he _meant_ to say, but all that came to him in the moment was a single word, a single plea, that made his heart quiver with what he would do if Merlin said _no._

"Stay." He whispered into Merlin's ear, eyes closing against the tears trailing down his cheeks, not caring in the least that his knights, his council and advisors, were all still there, observing, watching their King fall apart in the arms of a man only a select few would recognize.

"I will." Merlin whispered back, arms wrapped just as tightly around Arthur.

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart."

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End file.
